Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., wants to prohibit Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito from writing majority opinions following the release of a secret recording. Blumenthal, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Chief Justice John Roberts should use his administrative powers to prevent Alito from writing any majority opinions and block him from presiding over a federal circuit court.
“He can say that Justice Alito no longer writes majority opinions, he can say that Justice Alito no longer presides over a circuit,” Blumenthal told reporters Wednesday, June 12. “He can take action within the court that sends a message that Justice Alito is either going to recuse himself or he will be, in effect, sanctioned within the court.”
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Blumenthal made the comments in response to secret recordings that were released by liberal activist Lauren Windsor who posed as a pro-life conservative at an event with Alito.
“People in this country who believe in God have got to keep fighting for that to return our country to a place of godliness,” Windsor said to Alito in the recording.
“I agree with you,” Alito responded.
Democrats on the Judiciary Committee have been trying to get the Supreme Court to adopt an enforceable code of ethics and are renewing their efforts in the wake of this recording.
“I think we ought to begin to think about using funding as a potential means of persuading justices that they should adopt a code of ethics,” Blumenthal said. “Justice Alito and Justice Thomas are politicians in robes. They’re hacks in the judicial robes that they wear and I think the chief justice has to take action to force them to recuse themselves.”
“Oh, I disagree with all of that,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said when asked about Blumenthal’s comments.
Republicans on the committee are against legislation that would create new requirements for the high court, citing separation of powers.
Hawley suggested this current effort by Democrats is an attempt to “pre-butt” upcoming Supreme Court decisions.
“Some of them involve Trump, I think, some of them involve [Jan. 6], some of them involve abortion,” Hawley told Straight Arrow News. “It’s been a big turn for the court and this is an attempt to pre-butt all of those so they could say, ‘Oh see it’s illegitimate, it’s illegitimate.’ My Democratic colleagues, if they don’t like the way an institution’s operating they say it’s illegitimate, if they like it, then they say, ‘Oh, it’s sacrosanct.’”
The Alito recordings received a lot of attention and also included audio of Windsor’s interactions with Alito’s wife and Chief Justice John Roberts.
“It’s a campaign of harassment against the Supreme Court in order to try to undermine public confidence,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is expected to ask unanimous consent to pass the Democratic-led Supreme Court ethics reform bill the afternoon of June 12. It will likely be blocked by a Republican member.
